“I think there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process,” Carter told U.S. television network ABC News’s “This Week.”
No, Mr. President. You're making the same mistake that Chamberlain made. Hamas is a terrorist organization that should neither be legitimized nor appeased. Meeting with its leaders is a slap in the face to all of those innocent Israelis who have been brutally murdered by suicide bombers and rocket attacks from Gaza. Your profound misunderstanding of the situation on the ground is frankly stunning considering your stature as a global voice for human rights. The only way peace will happen in the Middle East is for extremist elements like Hamas to be marginalized, discredited, and eventually disarmed.
I am, however, pleased that Carter decided to visit Sderot. I am on the Community Relations Council of my local Jewish Federation, and our Shaliach, who is the Israeli representative to the Jewish community here, is from Sderot. Each month, he gives us reports of life under constant threat of rocket attacks. Of how people have to scramble for cover when the "Color Red" alarms go off, giving maybe 20 seconds warning of a rocket attack. Of how rockets can explode anytime, anywhere, whether the warning sirens sound or not. Of how an elementary school has "blue" rooms that are fortified against rockets, and "yellow" rooms that aren't, and how students have to know which color room they're in and where the nearest safe room is. Of how every soccer field has a bomb shelter in it.
All of these things result directly from the official policy of Hamas, whose stated policy is the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamist theocracy in its place.
These are the extremists that Carter wants to legitimize by meeting with their leaders.
No, Mr. President. You don't get it. And I don't blame the Shin Bet for declining to provide you extra security during your visit. Until you wake up and realize that Hamas is the enemy, and only the enemy, you're on your own.
